GEMPAK Status Report

Steve Chiswell
September 19, 2007


Purpose of GEMPAK status report

The activities carried out toward GEMPAK development and support fulfill the endeavors as described in the Unidata 2008 NSF proposal.


There have been 1871 unique users to download GEMPAK through the web portal between 10/6/2005 and 9/19/07.

GEMPAK Downloads by Version
  5.6.L 5.6.M 5.7.1 5.7.2 5.7.3 5.7.4 5.8.1 5.8.2a 5.8.3a 5.8.4 5.9.1 5.9.2 5.9.3 5.9.4 5.10.1 5.10.2 5.10.3
Source Code 158 114 171 445 108 393 252 301 189 75 399 184 257 254 161 235 58
Linux Binary 233 260 159 661 395 649 427 529 152 67 361 176 240 210 143 262 36
Linux64 Binary                           50 35 63 17
FreeBSD Binary 29 42 9 23 34 105 8 21 17 4 22 9 22 17 11 16 7
Solaris Sparc Binary 26 23 10 34 19 29 21 14 11 1 15 21 4 9 10 6 1
Solaris x86 Binary 4 10 3 24 2 14 21 10 9 2 12 2 10 16 6 12 1
MAC OSX Binary               45 25 5 46 22 34 36 19 39 7


Highlights


Current Status

GEMPAK 5.10.4 release

Additional improvements to programs have been made to improve use with large grids by removing grid limitations from several programs and librariy routines.

Additions to 5.10.4 include:

  • Decode and Display Warnings by Polygon
  • Added decoder for COSMIC GPS sounding data (Unidata distribution)
  • Enhancements to the Ensemble Cyclone track display
  • TAF decoder now stores files based on cycle time
  • Time binning for satellite scatterometer winds

GEMPAK 5.10.3 release

The Unidata release of GEMPAK has been modified to support building the package using the gfortran compiler now being provided on most Linux platforms. Other local modifications include the ability to display the UNIWISC data stream satellite compressed images without unpacking, relieving sites from the need to use the LDM-MCIDAS pnga2area decoder, thereby freeing real-time ingest resources, and conserving disk space.

Additions to 5.10.3 include:

  • Option To Categorize Models in NMAP2 Selection GUI Added
  • Option to Save Reference Time for NMAP SPF Access Added

GEMPAK Workshop Held July 23-25, 2007

The Unidata applications training workshop for GEMPAK was conducted July 23-25, 2007. GEMPAK 5.10.3 was used for the workshop which included 17 participants. An added activity for participants this year was a data scavenger hunt which put the skills and tools learned by the attandees to use in finding clues embedded within data in order to arrive at their destination.

GEMPAK 5.10.2 release

NCEP developers have provided notification for retirement of five legacy GEMPAK GD programs. They are: GDCNTR, GDSTREAM, GDWIND, GDMAP and GDPLOT. The functionality of each of these programs is fully incorporated into GDPLOT2. In addition, GDPLOT2 provides additional capabilities beyond the capabilities provided by these individual programs. Minimal changes are needed to go from the legacy program parameter settings to GDPLOT2 parameter settings. The last release to support these programs will be 5.11.2 (February, 2008).

Additions to 5.10.2 include:

  • NMAP2 now supports multiple, simultaneous locator displays
  • Added support for new mesocyclone detection algorithm NEXRAD products
  • Contour label formating
  • Updated to latest version of Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) v7.2 for tropical cyclone evaluation.
  • Unidata programs to convert image data to grid (IMG2GD) and gridded data to image format (GD2IMG).

NCEP is continuing development of XML/XSLT infrastructure within GEMPAK as part of the creation of products by NMAP2. Future development will include a migration of the current table structure from column based formats to XML, which will remove legacy issues regarding metadata and precision, as well as increase the utility of these tables with other packages. An overarching goal in the GEMPAK development is to separate the library routines from the underlying data files and formats and migrate toward a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The current transition of grid routines from Fortran to C is part of this effort. This will facilitate the use of GEMPAK routines in the next generation AWIPS development (ca. 2011 timeline for National Centers). A primary benefit of this work will be the ability to support a wider range of data sets, including remote access.

Site visit to St. Louis University

Dr. Chuck Graves hosted a GEMPAK and IDV site visit to SLU March 19-21, 2007. The visit provided direct interaction with undergraduate and graduate classes, one-on-one time with individual students as well as site administrator, a departmental presentation on Unidata activities, and a presentation at the student AMS meeting.


Previous developments

Radar mosaics for GIS

Iowa State is actively using GEMPAK radar mosaics with their mesonet products in GIS applications. To facilitate this process, I developed the GEMPAK program NEX2IMG to generate composite images which can be used with a file to provide GIS navigation information. Daryl Herzmann has put together a How-To document to help other sites set up their own radar mapservers.

  • See July 2007 status report for past information.


    Ongoing Additions

    GEMPAK workshop and tutorial online

    All the documentation for the GEMPAK workshop is made available through the GEMPAK tutorial. Included in the presentation are numerous sample exercises and output samples. This format of presentation allows workshop participants to be able to review or utilize any of the material at their home institution. The tutorial is updated as new features dictate.